I'm sorry this took a while to update. I've been up to my neck with school work, and yet it's still piling up as I speak. But I finally managed to get the second chapter done. Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, following and favouriting this fanfic. Your support is greatly appreciated. But now, I shall give you the next chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Aristocrats
The Lost Girl was made to swear allegiance to the Prince and Princess of the Red Rose, before she was finally dubbed an official member of the Aristocrat Club. The Wise Princess alerted everyone of this month's gift, which was a small, beautiful butterfly.
They all had one month to find this gift and place it in the Aristocrat Club box nailed onto the door. It seemed easy enough, yet the Lost Girl had been given another task in addition to this; a task which in one way she might regret doing, but in another she might not…
Viola sighed heavily as she closed the door to the dormitory, still hearing Diana directing insults at her through the wood. She still didn't see the point of the task she had been given since Mr Hoffman had already introduced her to the other children, despite it having been very brief.
Meg had decided it would be a wise idea for Viola to get to know the other members of the Aristocrat Club better, or in her terms Viola's "Superiors". And so she had been issued with the task of introducing herself properly to those she hadn't spoken to yet. So far it hadn't turned out very well…
Nicholas she had already been acquainted with, so she hadn't needed to look for him. The same went with Meg and Jennifer; although Viola could tell by the look she had received from the Baroness that the task had been given to her on purpose in order to get under her skin. Eleanor barely answered her when she had tried to converse, so the situation had been left quite awkwardly. Xavier had thrown food at her when she tried to talk to him. Luckily his aim was terrible, so she was safe from that. Olivia merely wept, and despite the blonde's attempts to calm her down, it only worsened things. Susan had taken no notice of her whatsoever, so she gave up attempting any conversation.
The sickly girl Wendy had actually been quite nice to her, and had been kind enough to tell her where the others were so she could find them. Amanda- Well… She had been a bit too friendly with Viola, and actually frightened her a little. Okay, that was an exaggeration. Amanda frightened Viola quite a bit. She seemed a bit… clingy? That seemed like the appropriate word. Diana had been her recent search, and you can probably guess what had happened there…
Viola went over everyone again in her head to make sure she hadn't missed anyone. The last person on her list was someone named Thomas. From what Wendy had told her, Thomas would usually be in the Playroom. With the way the other children had been, she was hoping that Thomas was nothing like some of them here; although she highly doubted that would be the case…
Timidly, Viola made her way towards the Playroom. The Orphanage was surprisingly quiet today. She guessed it was because the Aristocrats had already gone about trying to locate this month's gift. She had seen Susan just the other day already putting hers inside the box. How seriously did these children take the Aristocrat Club? Surely Jennifer had been exaggerating when she said they could hand out punishments, right?
Viola suddenly froze at the sound of something snapping further down the corridor she had just stepped into. Her eyes fell upon a familiar looking silhouette illuminated on the wall opposite one of the doors where the sunlight appeared to be very bright. Judging by the figure, it was Xavier. He was holding something in his hand, but Viola couldn't quite make out what the object was. Whimpering was soon heard as Xavier scoffed.
"Don't start being a cry-baby! This is your own fault! You left it lying around in the middle of the floor for me to step on!"
He angrily threw the object to the ground, which was soon followed by a loud and nasty bang as it made contact with the wooden floor. It made Viola cringe.
"Xavier, it wasn't Thomas' fault. You know what he's like"
Viola recognised that voice to be Nicholas. The whimpering soon got louder, and turned into sniffling. Xavier clenched his fists angrily as he headed towards the door of the Playroom. His shadow had grown bigger on the wall.
"If only I was higher in my rank… I could easily punish snivelling little things like him"
Viola saw Xavier stomp his way along the corridor that was vertically connected to the one she currently stood in. Another silhouette appeared on the wall as Nicholas quickly dashed after him.
"Xavier! Don't leave Thomas like that! It's not fair! Xavier!"
Viola continued to stand there a moment longer as she heard screaming and wailing now coming from the room. And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse…
Deciding to be brave, Viola slowly and cautiously walked up the rest of the corridor towards the room. She slowly poked her head around the door to find a young boy kicking and screaming in the middle of the room. Half of a wooden toy train lay beside him.
(So that's what Xavier stepped on…)
She pitied Thomas. What right had Xavier to scream at him like that? He was only a young boy after all.
While Thomas continued to have his tantrum, Viola slowly walked into the room and picked up half of the toy train by his foot. She then proceeded to pick up the other half of the train that was by the door. She wanted to try to help him in some way, whether he appreciated it or not. She didn't want to be anything like some of the other orphans here.
Upon hearing footsteps, Thomas soon stopped his kicking and thrashing around. He started to calm down a little as he watched Viola leave the room. Curious teary eyes followed her as he slowly got to his feet. He sniffled a little and decided to find out where his favourite toy was being taken to.
Viola slowly headed further down the corridor, looking inside different rooms for something to use to put the train back together. Thomas quietly followed behind her, trying his best not to make any noise. He didn't want her to know he was there.
She ventured down quite a few corridors before Viola stopped by the sewing room, and peeked in. Amanda appeared to be gone. Perfect. She quietly entered the room, looking around for something useful she could use.
Thomas hid himself behind the wall, peeking a little around the door frame so he could see what Viola was doing. Viola found a long red ribbon trailing along the floor. She frowned in thought.
(I don't think that would hold it for very long, but I suppose it will suffice…)
Picking up the ribbon, Viola placed the two pieces back together on the wooden floor. Kneeling down, she carefully began wrapping the ribbon around the two parts of the toy. Thomas' eyes widened a little as he watched her with curious eyes. He had never seen one of the other children actually help him out before. In fact, they rarely talked to him at all unless he was getting scolded for leaving his toys lying around, or drawing on things he shouldn't be.
Viola finished tying the ribbon around the two parts of the toy train. She pulled the two ends together tightly, making a small bow like shape on top of it. She carefully picked it up off the floor, and turned her head towards the door slightly. Thomas quickly hid his face back behind the wall. It seems Viola had been aware of his presence the entire time. He hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped.
Viola chuckled a little at his actions as she knelt down and held out the toy to him. She waited until he poked his head slowly from behind the wall again before speaking.
"I believe this belongs to you"
Thomas' eyes silently fell upon the train in her hands. He really wanted to go over and grab it, but hesitation held him back. Viola gave him a warm smile for encouragement. That was the only confirmation he needed.
Timidly, Thomas slowly walked into the room and towards Viola. He carefully took hold of the train with his little hands, staring at it curiously. He then proceeded to kneel down on the floor, putting the train in front of him. He held it with one hand, and slowly moved it backwards and forwards.
A wide grin came to his face. His train was fixed. Viola stood back up again and silently watched Thomas playing with his train happily. She had never seen a little boy so happy over a train before.
Viola decided to leave the little boy in peace. Technically she had completed her task now, so she could finally stop chasing these children around the place. Just as she began to leave however, she felt a light tug on the back of her dress. Viola paused briefly for a moment and slowly glanced back. Thomas was standing behind her with his train in his hands. He gave her a small smile.
"T-Thank you, new girl"
Viola blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected Thomas to speak to her at all. Wendy had told her that Thomas was quite distant from the other children, and wouldn't interact with them. She smiled a little out of politeness, giggling.
"You're welcome. And my name is Viola, not "new girl""
Thomas tilted his head to the side a little.
"V… Viola… Thank you, V-Viola"
Thomas quickly ran out the room, probably going back towards the Playroom so he could play with his fixed toy. Viola smiled to herself as he dashed away happily. She was glad she could be of some help.
She caught a shadow moving past the doorway from the corner of her eye. She quickly ran back out into the corridor to find Diana running away from the scene, snickering. What had interested her so much about helping a little boy mend his toy?
Now Viola wanted to know what was going on. She quietly followed after Diana back to the attic. The door was closed. Silently Viola knelt down and pressed her ear tightly to the door. The wood was too thick for her to hear much, but she caught small bits of Diana's conversation with Meg. It was definitely about Viola helping Thomas, but they appeared surprised that Thomas had actually spoken to her. Diana was going to order one of the other children to keep a close eye on her.
Viola quickly and silently moved away from the door. She didn't want to listen to them anymore. She had better things to do than eavesdrop.
As April started to come to a close, the majority of the Aristocrats had located and offered their monthly gifts to the Aristocrat Club. Well with the exception of the Small Hearted Princess, the Unlucky Girl and the Lost Girl.
The following weeks had been quite a struggle for the three, and working alone proved they were getting nowhere, especially since the Aristocrats had been ordering them around quite a lot. Time was ticking. They didn't have long left.
But it was because they were working alone that the Unlucky Girl and the Lost Girl questioned why they haven't formed an alliance with one another. As far as they were aware, the Rule of Rose had nothing against working together to locate their monthly gifts, correct…?
Jennifer quietly walked around the corridors of the Orphanage, looking around curiously. The Orphanage was very quiet today, which benefitted her situation perfectly.
"Brown!"
She called out the name quietly, making sure it was still loud enough for her companion to hear. Jennifer had no idea where he had run off to. One minute he had been beside her, and then the next minute he wasn't there. Jennifer was concerned now. If Mr Hoffman or Martha found Brown…
She quickly shook the thoughts out of her head. That wasn't going to happen. She was going to find Brown, no matter what it took; although now Jennifer was regretting her decision to bring Brown inside the Orphanage…
That was when she heard barking coming from further down the corridor. Jennifer felt relief wash over her as she dashed down the corridor as fast as her legs would allow her to go. She quickly rounded the corner to find the little puppy clambering around Viola's lap, who appeared to have fallen backwards onto her butt in the middle of the next corridor. A net lay beside her on the floor. Jennifer watched relieved as Viola's reaction went from shock to laughter. She quickly picked Brown up off Viola's lap, lifting him up so that he was in front of her face.
"Brown, stop running off! When I tell you to stay, you stay still!"
In response to Jennifer's scolding, Brown licked her nose with his little tongue. Jennifer couldn't stay mad at him then, and laughed a little. She gently placed him back on the ground. She glanced back at Viola sheepishly.
"Sorry Viola. I'm still training him to be more obedient"
Viola slowly got to her feet, carefully picking up her net off the floor and dusting off the front of her dress a little.
"It's quite alright. He only gave me a bit of a fright when he dashed around the corner. I didn't think he belonged to you though…"
Little Brown wagged his tail happily as Jennifer gazed down at him.
"I found him in the abandoned shed a month ago. I've been trying to take care of him. Someone left him in there, and I didn't want the poor thing to starve to death"
"Does Mr Hoffman know about him?"
Jennifer glanced back at Viola with pleading eyes as she quickly shook her head back and forth in response.
"Could you please not say anything?"
Viola gave her a small smile.
"I won't tell. Don't worry"
Jennifer let out a small sigh of relief.
"Oh thank you Viola! I'm really grateful!"
Her eyes then fell upon the net Viola was carrying.
"Why do you have that net?"
Viola sighed heavily, sounding quite annoyed. She wasn't annoyed at Jennifer though.
"I've been using this to try to catch this month's gift for the Aristocrat Club; however, it has failed to catch anything. Finding a butterfly is harder than what I'd initially thought…"
Jennifer gave her a sad smile.
"So you haven't found one either? Amanda and I have been struggling too. How the other orphans have managed it so easily has left me baffled… The amount of running around we have been doing this week for the Aristocrats has been more than usual"
"And our time is running out. We only have a few days until the next meeting"
Jennifer shook her head a little, closing her eyes.
"What are we to do?"
An idea suddenly came to Viola.
"Well, the Aristocrats never said we couldn't work together to catch the butterflies…"
Jennifer stared at Viola surprised, as she gave her a small smile.
"We might as well help each other out. After all, we're both in the same class. And the Aristocrats aren't going to be of much help"
Jennifer nodded stiffly in agreement, grinning happily.
"That sounds like a plan! But, where should we start looking first?"
Brown's little ears perked up at the sound of footsteps thudding across the hallway. He got up onto his hind legs, gently pawing at Jennifer's knee and whining loudly. Jennifer looked down at him worriedly.
"What's the matter Brown?"
Brown stood on all fours again and slowly walked past Viola. He stood still then, lifting up his left front paw to point down the corridor. He continued to whine, looking back at Jennifer with his big puppy dog eyes. The two girls were then startled by the sound of the footsteps stomping down the corridor. They froze as they saw a green butterfly fluttering its way down the corridor vertical to them, with Amanda pursuing after it. Viola could see the determination in her eyes as she passed by them. Amanda really wanted that butterfly.
Brown suddenly started yapping, and charged after Amanda.
"Brown! Get back here! Brown!"
Jennifer quickly ran after him, with Viola close behind. Brown was a lot more trouble than Jennifer had predicted.
The two chased him through a few more corridors before they ended up at the top of the stairs near Mr Hoffman's office. Brown was barking at the butterfly that had flown by, which was now on the floor. It was still and lifeless. Weeping in front of it was none other than little Olivia, who appeared oblivious to Brown being beside her.
Viola glanced towards the door on the left just in time to see a flash of pink dash through the doorway, slamming that door shut behind her loudly. Had Amanda given up chasing that butterfly already?
Viola and Jennifer stared towards the crying Olivia and dead butterfly lying on the floor.
"What happened to it?" Viola wondered out loud.
"I-I'm not sure... But perhaps one of us could use that butterfly to give as a gift"
Jennifer glanced back over at Olivia however, and all determination to get that butterfly left her. She feared the Aristocracy greatly, even someone as little and innocent as Olivia. She couldn't go over there. Viola glanced at Jennifer with concern.
"I'll go and get it, just wait here"
Jennifer watched on in shock and surprise as Viola handed her the butterfly net and slowly walked over towards the butterfly, carefully stepping around Brown as he continued to bark furiously at it. Jennifer went to stop her, but couldn't find the words. It was as if Viola didn't know the meaning of the word "fear". She didn't seem afraid of the Aristocrats at all, which Jennifer found shocking.
Viola carefully knelt down and reached out a hand to pick up the dead butterfly. A fork suddenly came down, impaling the butterfly's wings. Both Jennifer and Viola jumped as she retracted her hand quickly. Brown whimpered and backed off a little. Olivia had stopped crying. Her hand was wrapped tightly around the fork. She silently stood up after letting go, and walked around Viola towards the stairs in front of her.
"I hope you two get gobbled up…"
Viola watched on in confusion as the little girl disappeared down the stairs without another word. Jennifer had gone really pale in the face. Her grip on the net had tightened so much that her knuckles had gone white. Viola stared down at the dead butterfly before her, noticing its delicate little wings had been pierced by the fork. That butterfly was of no use to them now.
(Poor thing…)
But what had Olivia meant by that remark? "I hope you two get gobbled up". Gobbled up by what exactly?
Viola slowly stood up and turned to face Jennifer. She became concerned at seeing the colour drained from her friend's face. She looked like a ghost. Jennifer knew what Olivia was talking about.
"Jennifer, are you alright?"
Jennifer finally took a deep breath, calming herself down at last. The colour slowly began to come back to her face. Her grip on the net slowly loosened. She nodded slowly.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine…"
Brown slowly made his way over to Jennifer, whining and rubbing the side of his head against her leg. Jennifer carefully knelt down and collected little Brown into her arms. She gave him a tight hug. Viola carefully collected her net from Jennifer as she slowly stood back up again, with Brown still in her arms.
"What was Olivia talking about Jennifer? What did she mean?"
Jennifer had a feeling this question would come up at some point. She didn't want to explain it just yet however.
"This is not the best time to explain. I will tell you later, but let's focus on locating another butterfly"
Viola nodded stiffly in agreement. She understood if Jennifer didn't want to discuss it just yet. As Jennifer carefully put Brown back down on the ground, he slowly made his way back towards the dead butterfly. He sniffed it curiously, and then stuck his nose to the floor. He slowly followed the trail, sniffing all the way, until he reached the door that Amanda had recently left through. He began whining and got up on his hind legs, scratching at the door with his front paws. Viola and Jennifer turned towards him confused.
"Has Brown found something?"
Jennifer shrugged.
"I don't know. Let's follow him and see!"
"But what about the butterfly?"
Jennifer glanced back towards the butterfly on the floor.
"That butterfly is of no use to us now. I think it might be best if we leave it be"
Jennifer quickly walked over towards Brown and slowly opened the door, with Viola following close behind. The little puppy bounded up the corridor straight away, with the two girls following close behind.
After a while of navigating through the corridors, little Brown stopped in front of a door that was opened a little. The puppy began to growl quietly. The two girls silently looked through the gap in the door to find Amanda kneeling on the floor. It was clear she was in someone's bedroom, but whose remained a mystery. She was holding up a glass case, and inside it was a dead butterfly that had been left undamaged.
"How did she manage to find that?" Viola whispered.
"I have no idea. I think we should leave her alone. She did find that butterfly fair and-"
Without warning, Brown quickly scampered into the room. Gasping, Jennifer quickly darted in after him. Viola cautiously followed behind. After hearing the door open, Amanda quickly shoved herself to the far end of the room and kept the butterfly case right underneath her, near her chest.
Jennifer and Viola froze by the door as Brown charged towards Amanda. Amanda snarled angrily at the little puppy, causing him to whimper and quickly back up. Jennifer had been too scared to call Brown back, so she didn't say anything. Viola on the other hand was quite surprised that she hadn't. Amanda's gaze fell upon the two girls by the door. She glared.
"Oh, it's just you two!"
Her tone was venomous as she pulled the butterfly case closer to her chest.
"I found this butterfly! It's mine! I won't give it to either of you! I won't lose to you two!"
Brown quickly scampered back towards Jennifer, who was currently trembling timidly. Viola however didn't like being spoke to in that way. She went to open her mouth to say something in response to Amanda's remark, but she stopped when she felt a hand grip her shoulder firmly. She looked back to Jennifer, who was shaking her head at her.
"Please don't! You'll make things worse!"
Viola was surprised that Jennifer's voice was barely above a whisper. Amanda continued to glare at them for a while longer, before turning her face away to stare at the butterfly.
"You dirty newcomers! Out with you!"
Obeying immediately, Jennifer quickly yanked Viola out of the room. She shut the door quickly behind them, and proceeded to pull Viola up the corridor with Brown at her heels. Viola managed to wriggle herself free from Jennifer's grip and took a couple of steps back, standing still with her arms folded. Jennifer stared at Viola with widened eyes, slowly stopping and turning around to face her. Brown remained by Jennifer's feet.
"Jennifer, why didn't you stand up for yourself against Amanda?"
Jennifer stared at Viola with confusion. She had not been expecting that question at all.
She timidly looked down at the floor.
"W-Well… I didn't want to make things worse"
"But what right have they to treat you like that? They don't have any control over you. You shouldn't allow Amanda to insult you"
Just as Jennifer went to answer, the two jumped suddenly when the door to the room they had just left opened. Amanda slowly came out of it, giggling quietly to herself as she carefully shut the door behind her.
She was about to start running down the corridor again when she looked up to see Viola and Jennifer staring at her in confusion. She gave them a creepy smile and continued to giggle as she held up a small red butterfly between her index finger and thumb. She had lifted it up off her palm.
Amanda began making frightened sounds as she quickly placed the butterfly in between her hands and continued to run off with it again in the opposite direction. Viola had found this little reaction odd, but it seemed from her view that Amanda thought they were trying to take the butterfly from her…
At seeing this display, little Brown began to bark loudly again and quickly dashed after her.
"Brown, no!"
Jennifer and Viola were soon in quick pursuit of the dog. They had to stop him before he caught up with Amanda.
Sadly the two girls weren't fast enough. By the time they had come back down the stairs that led down towards the entrance, Amanda was nowhere to be seen. At least the two of them had found Brown however, and he had given up on his little pursuit.
The little dog was currently barking at two beautiful blue butterflies flying towards the light bulb on the ceiling. Jennifer pointed an index finger towards them.
"Look! Brown found two butterflies! Quick Viola! Catch them in the net!"
Viola gave a stiff nod and lifted the net up slightly, ready to try to swipe at them; however the two girls jumped back at the sound of a small buzzing noise. The two butterflies had landed on the light bulb; although that light bulb had been turned on. Upon contact with it, the two butterflies shook a little before slowly floating down towards the floor.
Viola lowered the net underneath the light bulb, and successfully caught the two butterflies in it. They lay still and lifeless within the confines of the net. Jennifer gave a wide grin as Brown continued to bark happily at the net. She slowly walked over to Viola and carefully took one of the blue butterflies out, placing it gently onto her palm. The one she had picked up looked badly injured compared to the other one, but she didn't mind. It still looked beautiful anyway!
"We did it, Viola! We caught them!"
Viola smiled back at Jennifer happily; however she didn't see why Jennifer was so happy about having found them. I mean, it was only a game, right? They wouldn't really hurt Jennifer or her if they hadn't succeeded, right?
She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as Jennifer quickly grabbed Viola's hand and began running towards the attic. The net had dropped from Viola's hand by this point and made a loud clang as it hit the floor, but it was okay. Viola had the other butterfly in her hand already.
"We need to hurry and give them to the Aristocrats!"
By the time the two girls had reached the attic, with little Brown trailing behind them, Amanda was already placing her gift in the gift box. The minute she'd done so, the door had opened halfway for her. Amanda had cautiously poked her head in, only to find herself suddenly being pulled inside forcefully.
Both Jennifer and Viola jumped out of fright as the door slammed shut loudly. They hadn't expected that to happen. Jennifer timidly turned back to Brown and gave him a stern look.
"Brown, stay"
Brown did as he was told this time, and sat down in silence while wagging his tail a little. Jennifer and Viola stared at each other in silence for a moment.
"Ready?"
Viola gave a small nod. Jennifer took a deep breath and began to slowly walk towards the door, with Viola closely behind. Viola could see that she was scared. There was fear present in those little eyes of hers, and her hands were shaking quite badly.
When the two paused in front of the gift box, Viola gently placed a hand on Jennifer's shoulder. Jennifer jumped a little and looked back at Viola in confusion. She gave Jennifer a small, friendly smile.
"Go on. I'm right behind you"
She stared at Viola in silence for a moment, before Jennifer gave a small nod and turned slowly back towards the gift box. She lifted up the lid with a shaky hand, and carefully placed her butterfly inside. After waiting a few moments, Viola did the same but with more confidence. Jennifer was staring at her friend in confusion. She couldn't understand where this confidence was coming from. How was Viola not scared? Both of them were new to this, and yet Viola did not seem nervous at all. Was she hiding it perhaps?
Viola soon frowned however when she heard whispering coming from the other side of the door. And it wasn't just Viola hearing it either. Jennifer could hear it too. The two girls leaned forward slightly to hear it better.
"I don't know…"
"Oh, why not?"
"What?"
"No!"
"It's her first time"
"Yeah, she's new. They both are"
"So… pass?"
There were a variety of voices coming from the other side of the door in little whispers, yet Viola and Jennifer didn't know who had said what. And on top of that, they didn't who it was they were talking about. Near the end of the conversation it was obvious they were both being talked about, but at the start… Who were they referring to? Viola or Jennifer? Was something wrong with the gifts they'd handed over?
The door slowly opened then, causing the two girls to move back a bit out of surprise. Jennifer quietly and slowly walked towards the door and poked her head around it. Viola did the same. It was quite dark in there at first. Neither of them could see a thing.
Then without warning, and just as their eyes were beginning to adjust to the dim lighting, Viola received a nasty kick to her back. Out of surprise, she gasped and fell into Jennifer, and the two ended up tumbling into the room roughly.
